Susan and I have talked about retirement on a boat. The thought only makes sense in a sailing vessel for the possibility of early retirement. I have read in verious places, (livingaboard.com) a couple can live aboard in the Caribbean for roughly $10-$15K a year. You need to leave or dry dock during the summer months due to the strong storm season there. During that time a person could either leave the boat dry docked and live in a standard house somewhere, however, I think you could also find your way back up to the Great Lakes or at least inland a ways on the Mississippi or up the coast.
What could you do without? Susan and I a few years back got rid of Cable TV due to the fact we felt is was unnecessary and expensive. Since then we filled that budget space with more extravagant phones and tablet computers which consume the budget savings we once had. Most everyday you feel lost if you did not have these gadgets, but their recurring expense consumes $1,800 a year or more.
If you look at monthly expenses that "normal people" have it is daunting. At this site, leavingthefolks.com, which I think is very conservative it claims $24,000 - 25,000 a year in living expenses on average nation wide.
Here is the montly breakdown as I see it for most people:
- House and property tax or rent = $800 - 1,200
- Auto loan = $300-500
- utilities = $350
- Home and auto insurance = $150
- Health insurance = $300 - 600
I wonder if we should give up the power boat and concentrate on saving to be done early….?
